Rebecca Allinson

Storbritannien

Technopolis was established in Brighton, UK in 1989 as a spin-off from the Science Policy Research Unit, Sussex University. In the intervening period, Technopolis has grown into a substantial policy consultancy with practices throughout the EU with the Brighton office at its heart. The team has led over 600 projects in research and innovation policy, and participated in many more.

In the UK, Technopolis provides strategic policy support in areas including the review and development of research and higher education institutions, programme and policy design and the creation of evaluation systems and capacity.

The team conducts a wide range of policy studies from reviews of methodological approaches to economic impact assessment through to international comparative analyses of policies and practice around issues like public-private sector partnerships, knowledge transfer and research commercialisation and governance at the organisation and systems levels.

The office is engaged in a number of policy monitoring exercises, usually at the international level, providing a solid basis for many comparative studies of good (and bad) practice in policy design and implementation.

Brighton has a particularly strong track record in all aspects of policyevaluation, ex post and ex ante, and covering all levels of public policy, from institutional effectiveness reviews to national research assessment exercises by way of programme-level evaluations. Members of the team also provide education and training in evaluation, both directly and through university partnerships.

Methodological skills range from econometric analysis on the quantitative side through to more deliberative techniques on the qualitative side. Large-scale international surveys, longitudinal impact case studies and cost benefit analyses are widely used, with specialist techniques like scientometrics used where appropriate.

The work of the office spans a wide range of themes. It has particular strengths in R&D and innovation policies, Higher Education, ICT, Space, Health and Life sciences, R&D for development and capacity building, science communications and standardisation. This extends beyond research and innovation, with for example a body of work on entrepreneurial universities, another in HR management and yet another related to European standardisation systems.

Brighton has broad methodological skills and has the capacity to implement all types of policy evaluation, ranging from econometric analysis on the quantitative side through to more deliberative techniques on the qualitative side. Large-scale international surveys, longitudinal impact case studies and cost benefit analyses are widely used, with specialist techniques like scientometrics used where appropriate.

We address other themes or skills through wider partnerships, working with colleagues across the Technopolis Group and with other strategy partners. This gives us the flexibility to address a very much larger cross-section of policy studies, while also maintaining the independent and authoritative position that has been so critical to our work and commercial success over the last three decades.

In addition to having a solid foundation in UK activities, Brighton’s work has been highly international since Technopolis began. A substantial proportion of the office’s work is for the European Commission, OECD and other international organisations. Another large part is undertaken in other European countries including the Nordics, Ireland and several of the newer member states of the EU as well the older states, often in partnership with other Technopolis offices. Brighton has experience from a total of about 40 countries around the world, including China, South Africa, New Zealand, some of the ‘Tiger’ economies and – increasingly – Latin America.

Paul Simmonds leads the Brighton team, which is highly international – split about 50/50 between UK and other nationalities and speaking 15+ languages – to ensure the best possible access to global as well as UK experience.